I have two
Storys and they have a lot of dislikes. I want to know why but The only comment I got was on the fact i forgot to add a tag. Pls do Criticism

--Sweetie Belle

Haven't been around for a while, huh?

Only thing worth mentioning is that my cat has gone blind. (Most likely due to high blood pressure. Apparently this isn't uncommon for older cats.) Goods news is, I think she'd adapting pretty well so far. Research tells me cats cope with blindness better than you'd think since their other senses are so acute.

Haven't written anything in ages, though I occasionally feel a slight urge to. Did have a period like this before, so hopefully it passes eventually.

7654896
Sorry to hear about your cat's eyesight. I'd imagine you'll want to make sure things stay where your cat remembers them, to minimize how much trouble she has finding things.

It has been a while, and I haven't really written much in a while either.

Elden Ring came out, so I've been playing that a fair amount. I've played endless hours of the Dark Souls games, and endless hours of Skyrim, so when you combine things in both, it's definitely not something I'm putting down for a while...

--Sweetie Belle

7654917

Elden Ring came out, so I've been playing that a fair amount.

I started playing it a little bit as well. I am only a couple hours in, and I think I've solved the riddle of what the Elden Ring is. It must be a cock ring, because the game is a DICK!

I clear a small area of easy enemies to the east of where you start, I go down some stairs, there's a chest waiting for me, I open it... And the game teleports me to a small shack inside a mine, surrounded by enemies that outlevel me, on the other side of the map.

First mimics, now this. Thanks, From. I missed being jerked around at this degree.

7654937
Well, messing with you like this is pretty typical of From Software games. In that mine, you can pretty much just run down, and down again to get to a grace and the entrance of the mine. Once you are outside, you can fast travel away... though if you are using sorcery, go to the right and look for some ruins to the left and explore a little bit. There's some armor and a really good staff near there. Also, if you don't already have access to the hub, look for an outdoor grace near there, and resting at it will trigger a cutscene (as will any grace not on the first map piece, I think)!

Deliberately triggering that trap is actually a pretty good move for a starting astrologer or prisoner, though you'll need to get your int to 18 to use the staff...

--Sweetie Belle

7654917

Sorry to hear about your cat's eyesight. I'd imagine you'll want to make sure things stay where your cat remembers them, to minimize how much trouble she has finding things.

Well, she was never the most mobile cat - mostly stayed in the same room, rarely ventured outside, not much for wandering about. Probably why she ended up with this kind of health issues, honestly. Anyway, though she walks into stuff or take wrong turns sometimes, she seems pretty good at navigating based on where things are. Having whiskers must be handy.

She still spends most of her time sleeping in my room. Main difference is, she tend to want me to tag along when she goes to eat and will meow loudly if she doesn't know where she is or where I am. Understandably, cats can get sorta stressed out when they go blind, I just hope she'll cope with it eventually.

It has been a while, and I haven't really written much in a while either.

Bit sad, innit?

Elden Ring came out, so I've been playing that a fair amount. I've played endless hours of the Dark Souls games, and endless hours of Skyrim, so when you combine things in both, it's definitely not something I'm putting down for a while...

Yeah, I kinda noticed - all of a sudden my Youtube recommendations is full of Elden Ring videos. As per usual, I'm about a generation behind everyone else, having only recently finally acquired a PS4. Been playing Star Wars: Fallen Order and Spider-Man for a while but just started up a dexterity-oriented DS3 "samurai" type" character based on one of my DS2 builds.

7654991
Could also be that having bad eyesight was a factor in her being so sedentary in the first place, too.

Definitely agree having whiskers is probably handy. And cats have way better smell than humans. She can probably smell that her food is over in that direction, and her human in the other direction, but doesn't know if anything's in between.

And yeah, a bit, but I have a lot of things I like doing, and it tends to be that one or the other ends up being the main thing for a while and the others rest.

I do have a PS4, but I ended up going current generation with an XBox Series S. It was easier to find for the actual normal price, and Game Pass plus an XBox is a pretty good deal.

And yeah, PS 4 does give you Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 and the old Demon Souls, at least. A samurai character in DS3 ought to be fun. I imagine you grabbed the uchigatana for that, since it's pretty close to fire link shrine. It's possible to get on the roof of Firelink Shrine from outside with some parkour and a helpful tree, btw.

Don't like how linear the start of Dark Souls 3 was, but once you are past Vordt, the Undead Settlement is pretty neat. Oh, and once you get to the Road of Sacrifices, if you haven't already gotten there, keep in mind you'll be invaded a lot if you are embered.

Of course, Elden Ring just straight has a samurai class you can start with.

--Sweetie Belle

7655035

Could also be that having bad eyesight was a factor in her being so sedentary in the first place, too.

That is a good point: She definitely used to go outside a lot more way back, and I did notice her eyesight apparently getting worse over time. Still, I'm pretty sure she went completely (or at least mostly) blind fairly recently. Like, one day she'd be fine walking about the house and the next she won't jump from my lap because she can't see where she'd land.

Definitely agree having whiskers is probably handy. And cats have way better smell than humans. She can probably smell that her food is over in that direction, and her human in the other direction, but doesn't know if anything's in between.

It's kinda interesting: She'll walk straight into a wall or a box or something and stop at the last minute, probably because she can sense it with her whiskers, and for the most part she'll use that and a rudimentary sense of distance to know where she should go. Like: "Here's the box of cat litter, so I should go to the right until I run into the wellington boots and then turn left a few steps to find the food bowl." But then sometimes she clearly gets turned around or misjudges the distance and ends up in the wrong place.

I do have a PS4, but I ended up going current generation with an XBox Series S. It was easier to find for the actual normal price, and Game Pass plus an XBox is a pretty good deal.

Never actually been an XBox player - for me it's mostly been either Nintendo or Playstation. XBox was always that alternative console that just sorta existed, you know? For a while I was very tempted to get a Switch, but it would mainly have been for Breath of the Wild. There was just so damn many games for the PS4 that I wanted to play.

Man, I can't wait to own a PS5 somewhere around the time the PS6 is released.

And yeah, PS 4 does give you Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 and the old Demon Souls, at least.

Bloodborne is on my list of games I really have to get. So far I've been lucky to get most of my games at a considerable discount via the online store with all the DLC and everything, but Bloodborne is one that I have yet to see on offer.

As for Demon Souls, I did play it on the PS3. It was totally okay but really felt like a Dark Souls prototype, like they hadn't quite figured out the concept. I do rather want to try the remake, though, if only because it looks very pretty and I'm shallow that way.

A samurai character in DS3 ought to be fun. I imagine you grabbed the uchigatana for that, since it's pretty close to fire link shrine. It's possible to get on the roof of Firelink Shrine from outside with some parkour and a helpful tree, btw.

I did get the uchigatana, which was sort of my plan from the start. In previous playthroughs I always had trouble with the Sword Master, usually only beating him by pushing him off a ledge. This time I realized I could just throw firebombs at him until he died. Wish I had thought of that earlier.

That said, I'm actually open to any curved sword for this character. I imagine her as this wayward swordswoman who wandered in from the east and will use any decent blade that more or less suit her fighting style - her main weapon in DS2 was the Arced Sword you get from the Flexile Sentry. In DS3, most likely I'll be relying a lot on the Old Wolf Curved Sword, Carthus Curved Greatsword or Murakumo, once I manage to acquire them. I also rather like the Carthus Curved Sword in terms of aesthetics.

Other than that, I'm aiming for the Black Blade as a reliable main sidearm since it's the most durable katana. Notably, I never got a hold of the Berserker Blade in DS2 since it's very difficult to farm. Also wish I'd gotten my hands on more of the Mad Warrior set.

Actually, one thing I'm looking forward to in Elden Ring is that it does have a good-looking samurai armor, so the third incarnation of Ghostblade Mio will at least have decent drip going on. The Eastern Set is okay, I guess, but not really to my liking. The Shadow Set looks good on male characters but the female version doesn't sit right with me. Actually tempted to try making a male ninja character just so I can wear it, plus the nostalgic retro-80s cool factor.

Don't like how linear the start of Dark Souls 3 was, but once you are past Vordt, the Undead Settlement is pretty neat.

I'm not against linearity, really. I mean, sure, DS1 was neat in that regard, especially how all the areas where consistent with each other and made the setting seem like an place that made geographical sense, and I would have loved if that had remained a defining quality of the series. Still, it's not that important to me. DS2 is still my favorite Dark Souls game and it didn't make any geographical sense. DS3, while rather linear, is actually way better in that regard, to the point where they've made sure you can see other areas more or less where they should be in relation to you position.

My only real issue is that it limits your ability to gain advantages by exploiting the open map layout. Like how in DS1 you could get the Elite Knight set fairly early if you knew what you were doing. In DS3, you're only going to get a certain armor set or weapon pretty much when the devs intended you to.

Oh, and once you get to the Road of Sacrifices, if you haven't already gotten there, keep in mind you'll be invaded a lot if you are embered.

Not to worry, I mostly play these games offline and already know how to deal with the NPC invaders. Actually, for some reason the game recently hasn't been able to connect to the internet in the first place. Not that I'm complaining.

Of course, Elden Ring just straight has a samurai class you can start with.

Hell, even better. As I may have mentioned before, my main approach tends to be a tanky sword-and-board knight character covered in heavy plate armor, usually wielding a greatsword. But I do like to indulge in gratuitous weaboo shenanigans as well.

7655410

That is a good point: She definitely used to go outside a lot more way back, and I did notice her eyesight apparently getting worse over time. Still, I'm pretty sure she went completely (or at least mostly) blind fairly recently. Like, one day she'd be fine walking about the house and the next she won't jump from my lap because she can't see where she'd land.

Yeah, she was probably seeing just enough to get by, and then suddenly couldn't.

The whiskers probably are helping, too.

Bloodborne is on my list of games I really have to get. So far I've been lucky to get most of my games at a considerable discount via the online store with all the DLC and everything, but Bloodborne is one that I have yet to see on offer.

As for Demon Souls, I did play it on the PS3. It was totally okay but really felt like a Dark Souls prototype, like they hadn't quite figured out the concept. I do rather want to try the remake, though, if only because it looks very pretty and I'm shallow that way.

To be honest, haven't managed to get into Bloodborne much, but I think I just need to play it more. The mechanics are just different enough to throw me.

I did play Demon Souls (the original, not the remake) up to past the first boss, and thought it was neat, but really could've used a lot of stuff from later games.

Other than that, I'm aiming for the Black Blade as a reliable main sidearm since it's the most durable katana. Notably, I never got a hold of the Berserker Blade in DS2 since it's very difficult to farm. Also wish I'd gotten my hands on more of the Mad Warrior set.

The Black Blade was pretty good. Seems like a reasonable weapon to go for.

I'm not against linearity, really. I mean, sure, DS1 was neat in that regard, especially how all the areas where consistent with each other and made the setting seem like an place that made geographical sense, and I would have loved if that had remained a defining quality of the series. Still, it's not that important to me. DS2 is still my favorite Dark Souls game and it didn't make any geographical sense. DS3, while rather linear, is actually way better in that regard, to the point where they've made sure you can see other areas more or less where they should be in relation to you position.

My only real issue is that it limits your ability to gain advantages by exploiting the open map layout. Like how in DS1 you could get the Elite Knight set fairly early if you knew what you were doing. In DS3, you're only going to get a certain armor set or weapon pretty much when the devs intended you to.

I largely don't like that you can't level until you get past Gundyr, though I'm getting better at defeating him, and if you get stuck on Vordt, you just end up around the same section until you get good enough to get past him. It means certain classes are way harder for me to get started with.

And, yeah, it does mean you can't run for certain things early easily.

One thing I am liking with Elden Ring is that if I'm stuck on a boss, I have a whole big world to explore and lots of little dungeons to go check out with bosses to defeat there. I haven't defeated the main first boss, yet, but it doesn't really matter, because I've found all sorts of neat things all over the map! (And I'm getting closer. Almost beat him once.)

Not to worry, I mostly play these games offline and already know how to deal with the NPC invaders. Actually, for some reason the game recently hasn't been able to connect to the internet in the first place. Not that I'm complaining.

They did take the online down for DS3 recently for pc due to a nasty vulnerability, and I'm not sure they've put it back up again. Wouldn't think that'd affect PS3/4, though.

Hell, even better. As I may have mentioned before, my main approach tends to be a tanky sword-and-board knight character covered in heavy plate armor, usually wielding a greatsword. But I do like to indulge in gratuitous weaboo shenanigans as well.

Well, probably several classes you'd like, then.

The Samurai has samurai armor, an Uchigatana, a shield, a long bow, and various types of armor right off the bat. Then the Confessor is sword, shield, and faith spells. The Vagabond is pretty sword and shield, too.

Of course, right now I've got one Wretch character, who is basically Deprived, and a Prisoner character, which is a class with Estoc, magic, and a silly iron mask he's wearing.

Elden Ring brought back dual wielding from DS2, too. I really need to try it out sometime...

--Sweetie Belle

For anyone watching "Turning Red", I just thought I'd point out that the voice actor playing Priya is, in fact, Zipp's new voice actor...

--Sweetie Belle

What superheroes would Fluttershy admire the most?

I think there are three components to this: one would be about abilities and two would be about personality and three would be the values they represent.

When it comes to values, Fluttershy would probably admire Superman and the Flash.

Superman because of his altruism and wanting to make the world a better place for all and for the goodness of his heart.

And Flash because he hopes when everyone else gives up and he also likes to give some villians a second chance.

Oh and Captain America, Fluttershy might not be like him in personality, but she did start from being shy to becoming confident and kind of a source of wisdom, so an underdog kind of like Captain America.

7658899
Squirrel Girl.

7658938
Squirrel Girl slaps!

7658961
7658938
Certainly my favorite Marvel superhero!

--Sweetie Belle

--Sweetie Belle

7654991

Well, she was never the most mobile cat - mostly stayed in the same room, rarely ventured outside, not much for wandering about. Probably why she ended up with this kind of health issues, honestly. Anyway, though she walks into stuff or take wrong turns sometimes, she seems pretty good at navigating based on where things are. Having whiskers must be handy.

She still spends most of her time sleeping in my room. Main difference is, she tend to want me to tag along when she goes to eat and will meow loudly if she doesn't know where she is or where I am. Understandably, cats can get sorta stressed out when they go blind, I just hope she'll cope with it eventually.

Is your cat me?

I wasn’t sure were to ask this question.

So, how does the two sections “Also Liked” and “Similar” work on the FimFiction site? Because lately I’ve notice the stories I read that end up having completely different recommendations that aren’t similar to the stories I read. Like for example I was reading a cross over of Invader Zim but the Similar section had a lot of romance stories when I would assume it should be more base on cross overs or science-fiction?

I kind of guess “Also Liked” is from viewers or the author?

Medieval warhorses are often depicted as massive and powerful beasts, but in reality many were no more than pony-sized by modern standards, a new study shows.

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_892266_en.html

--Sweetie Belle

God dammit. >_<

Today, I suddenly "recalled" a song I rather liked that was on my previous Spotify account that I ended up losing. I say "recalled" it quotation marks because I can't recall the title, the lyrics or even what it sounded like. I hoped I'd written it down at some point and actually searched the message board I may have posted it on - where I'm not even a member these days- but to no avail. All I know is that it came out sometimes around 2017-2018, as sung by a male artist, and I think it had something to do about distance or travel.

This is very frustrating.

https://www.craiyon.com/

--Sweetie Belle

Out of sheer curiosity, can we promote stories that are on sites like FFN and AO3?

7707930
In the Writers Group, promotions aren't allowed outside of this thread. This thread, of course, is a free for all, so it wouldn't matter.

If you're thinking more of the Shameless Self Promotion Bureau, promotions need to be pony or site related, so you could only promote stories from those places if they were pony related. Other groups will vary by group.

--Sweetie Belle

--Sweetie Belle

7709442
Does the top middle one KINDA looks like he's doing a duckface or is that me?

7709455 It's not just you. I see it too.

7709455
Yeah, he does, kinda.

I always find it interesting to try typing things into this website and see what it comes up with...

--Sweetie Belle

Does anyone know where I can find a list of the plants that exist within Equestria? A heavy focus of my stories are the differences between Equestria and the human world.

I've recently started a newsletter blog that rambles about cartoons and animation, mostly with a focus on characters and lore. MLP is one of the topics I talk about but not in every entry. I'm kind of at a loss on how to actively promote it, and wanted to throw this into the ether of a few of FIMFic's more active groups and see if anyone might have some recommendations. My only plan right now is to pay for an ad via Derpibooru, which still provides paid-advertising for both MLP and nerd-culture sites. I'd really love to have multiple avenues though, so, any input is appreciated.

I ought to be watching the first of the three Owl House specials right now... but I think I'll sleep on it.

Partially, though I'm not tired, I technically should be getting to bed, and it'd be nice to be fully awake for the episode.

Also, I watched the newest Lower Decks episode earlier, Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus, and it was awesome. The Owl House episode probably will be too, and I'm not sure I want to watch two great episodes of different shows back to back.

But, yeah, does similar things to the original, and does them well. Great Star Trek movie references (Yay, Star Trek V!), and oof, poor Boimler...

--Sweetie Belle

7752960
The Owl House special was fun! I especially liked spoilers spoilers more spoilers even more spoilers. And I was so surprised that I was really lacking imaginations to invent fake spoilers to put them under the spoiler tags, I mean really. Can't wait for you to see it and hear all about it.

7752972
Well, I now have seen it. It always sucks when foreshadowing comes to pass.

Luz's mom is great. Always glad to see more of her.

--Sweetie Belle

7753339
Yeah, mom is great. Now to wait for who knows how long to see the next special.

7753342
Yeah, and there are only two of them left...

I'm sure it'll be great, though.

--Sweetie Belle

I have finally returned to life after over a month of pain.

I am not gonna get into details, but I just had a very long experience that redefined my pain scale. What happened now sits solidly on 10 while the very next greater pain I've ever felt is a 7—getting a tooth root slowly levered out of my mouth without painkillers, numbing, or anaesthesia. It was the absolute worst. I had to go to the hospital ER three times at least so they'll bring the pain down before I had an aneyrysm or heart attack due to the pain (almost happened at one point—they rushed in to flood me with painkillers real quick after taking my pressure).

I also discovered my super power: High resistance to painkillers. I needed 6 bags of intravenous painkillers (half being opioids) and two heavy shots in less than 90 minutes all, just to bring it down to "okay, I think I can stop biting my fist to stiffle the screaming now." It... It's not the best power, I admit.

7753415
Sorry you had to go through that hell. Hope you're feeling better now, no lingering dull pain or something.

7753494
Thank you.

The lack of pain is a high that cannot be described and I'm currently walking on sunshine. Have been for several days as the pain died down to nothing. I literally went out to frolic in the woods with a retarded smile on my face.

Then came back home with two wasp stings but still feeling like I am on pure heroin.

7753415 Very glad to hear the pain is going away! It sounded pretty rough last time we chatted. Pretty grim to be resistant to painkillers but not pain.

Not so happy about the wasp stings. I swear they exist to spread suffering.

You more or less recovered, or are symptoms still being treated?

7753415
Glad you're back with us, and the pain's going away.

Wasps suck. At least bees will usually leave you alone if you leave them alone...

--Sweetie Belle

Well, it's been years since I've written fiction. And now that I'm getting back to it, it seems extremely scary haha. I actually forgot how intimidating the blank page can be as a beginner.

7753415
Glad to hear you're doing better. I've never hit a full 10 pain before, but I know how much enduring pain sucks even at more mild levels. I can't even imagine how bad a month of level-10 pain must have been

7753646

Pretty grim to be resistant to painkillers but not pain.

I can take pain quite well, so this is why I didn't figure this before hand. I've never tried anything more than an aspirin before, even cracked bones or getting hit by a car (4 times) I walked them off.

Like, my brother would take a couple algofrens and be fine if he had pain. Me? I downed 5 of them and they did nothing. Only at the very end I figured out the trick: take ALL of them. 3 algofrens (400mg ibuprofens), 1 depon max (1g paracetamol), 2 tramal (100mg tramadol), 1 voltaren (200mg diclofenac), plus numbing agent by the handful, all at once. THEN they'd work.

You more or less recovered, or are symptoms still being treated?

The current thing's pain is wholly gone (just have to be careful for a couple weeks so the wound doesn't reopen and I start over from scratch), but it did reveal another condition that I will need to have surgery for unless I want to risk possible sepsis or cancer. From what I'm reading the recovery is 4-6 weeks and is... very painful (painkillers are heavily advised), so I have something to look forward to.

But on the whole I'm happy enough to deal with it and get it over with, so no biggie.

7753827
Thanks. Wasps do suck but at least you can kill them without feeling guilty.

7753838
Thank you.

If you're unlucky, you might find out one day. It was an extremely bad anal fissure (combined with other stuff, but mainly it), and scary thing about them is they can happen to anyone very easily. So, pro-tips: don't strain when pooping, ditch toilet paper and wash instead, don't sit in the toilet for longer than absolutely necessary, eat fiber, if constipated take stool softeners otherwise a big stool can tear open a fissure, and for the love of god, if you take medication don't ignore that they might turn your poops into diarrhea as nothing. You will literally tear open your rectum with the next normal poop if the diarrhea lasts long enough. The wound is no bigger than your nail but is made of pure agony, is super hard to heal, and it tears open every day. DON'T THINK IT'S NOT THAT BAD!

I've changed my lifestyle and diet completely so it never can happen again.

--Sweetie Belle

7756114
That song has no right being this incredibly catchy with this kind of theme, presentation, lyrics, or mix of music. Yet it does.

It's amazing how execution can make something you could only imagine being trash become a part of Olympus' domain.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I have been losing my mind over the ChatGPT AI. It is the coolest thing ever. I remember back in the early '90s when we got a soundblaster audio card and it came with Dr. Soundblaster, which was a very basic chatbot that basically mostly repeated what you said back to it as a question and it could use the audio card to speak outloud, and the comparison is making me feel as if I stepped into a science fiction novel

Guys, it is SO COOL!

You don't understand. I am basically the IT department at my job, and I had this issue that needed expertise which I didn't have, so it would necessitate deep dives into documentation and googling. I had the bright idea to instead ask the AI about it, AND THE THING ACTUALLY EXPLAINED IT TO ME STEP BY STEP, WROTE THE THING FOR ME, AND THEN FIXED THE ERRORS WHEN I MADE MY OWN ADJUSTMENTS!

I have been losing it. It has been writing and adjusting code for me, guys. I tell it what I want in what I want, and it freaking does it, and then I tell it if I want to change something and it freaking changes it! It wrote a piece of code that had taken me two days to figure out myself (because fuck quaternions) in two minutes and we spent the next 10 adjusting it! It is WRITING STATBLOCKS FOR MONSTERS AND ENCOUNTERS IN DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS BALANCED FOR THE PARTY I HAVE! It's collating all the calorie stuff and gives it to me without having to look up one by one. Guys. GUYS!

IT IS SO COOL!!!!

7780323
You are becoming obsolete, meatbag.

7781014
And I can't wait.